Half-Life: A Guard's Tale
by BillyBonka
Summary: Black Mesa: A Guard's Tale follows the story of Marcus Brookover, an average Black Mesa security officer. He arrives to work late, but continues the day as any other, that is until 8:58 A.M, where the disaster that would eventually result in Earth's invasion would begin. Story is rated T for language and violence.
1. Guard Duty

Black Mesa: A Guard's Tale is a non canon work of mine following the story of security officer Marcus Brookover. Just a little idea i've had for awhile, so I thought, why not make it?

Anyways, Chapter 1: Guard Duty.

* * *

The time was 7:43 A.M when Marcus awoke in the lower level security dormitories, the alarm clock next to his bed blared, nearly causing him to roll off of his bed.

"Gee...Glad I go deaf to start off my morning..." Marcus said, smashing his fist down on the alarm clock, which resulted in its silence.

He rolled over, looking at the alarm clock, slowly realizing what time it was. "Seven forty-three...Aww hell! I'm gonna be late again!"

he shouted, throwing the covers off of him and running towards his door. He fumbled with the lock for a few seconds before he finally unlocked it, rushing out and slamming the door behind him. "Man! Not only is the alarm clock the loudest damn thing in the facility, it's also faulty! For cryin' out loud!" Marcus said to himself as he rushed down the corridor, eventually reaching the Security locker room.

He fumbled with the dial on his locker for a few seconds until it clicked, and he hastily opened the locker. He grabbed his holster, quickly affixing it to his belt. Next, he grabbed his Beretta, quickly sliding it into the holster. "Man...Wish I could get one of those revolvers sometime. Those things pack a punch." he thought to himself, reaching for his vest. He slid it on and fiddled with the straps for a few seconds until it fight tightly around his torso. He shut his locker door and clipped the lock back on, and ran for the nearest tram. He encountered several people along the way, and he was glad he wasn't the only one late...Or did they work around here? Christ, he must look so out of place. He finally arrived at the tram boarding station, and exchanged a few greetings before he finally climbed on. The tram eventually departed and ran through some basic information, such as rules, regulations, and the current time.

"Gee, thanks, keep reminding me how late I am." Marcus said to no one in particular, looking out of the tram window. Minutes later, the tram intercom chimed, and then said _"Now arriving at Sector L, Biological Testing Labs."_

Another security officer, Robberts, walked up to the tram as it came to a slow stop. "Looks like you're running late Brookover...Again..."

Marcus had a strong urge to flip him the bird, but he decided against it and gave him a fake smile, accompanied by a fake chuckle. Robberts punched in a few numbers and the tram door slid open, making a slight hissing noise. Robberts stepped to the side as Mark exited the tram.

"Ready for another long shift?" Robberts asked, as they both walked towards the large blastdoors. "Hell, man, ready as i'll ever be." Marcus replied, Robberts inputting a code that opened the first large door.

"Well, see you around." Robberts said as Marcus entered the airlock.

"Mornin' Brookover." another security officer said, moving towards a control panel. He punched in a few numbers and the last door of the airlock opened. Marcus gave him a wave as he exited into the lobby. Brookover walked down the corridor and began to head for the gym until he was stopped by another security officer at the front desk. "Hey uh, Brookover, right? Anyways, can you take over the front desk for me? There's stuff I gotta attend to down in the labs."

Brookover sighed, reluctant, but nodded. "Thanks a million, I owe you." the security officer said as he slid out of the chair and walked down the corridor. Marcus slid into the chair and went to boot one of the computers up, only to be met with a bluescreen. "What the hell?" he said, trying to get to the BIOS screen.

He grabbed his security radio, unclipping it from his belt. He clicked it on and spoke into it, "Hey uh, what's up with the computers? They just bluescreened and i'm tryin'a get to the BIOS screen." He waited a few seconds before he finally got a response.

"Yeah, all of our equipment has been having issues, all of the I.T guys are scattered around the place tryin'a fix everything." Marcus sighed, and spoke into the radio one last time. "Alright, thanks." he said, turning off the radio and then clipping it back onto his belt. After minutes of Marcus sitting there swiveling in the chair, a scientist approached. Marcus scrambled and went back to looking like he was busy as a scientist approached the front desk.

"Hello. I've requested a new ID an hour or so ago and they said it should be arriving soon. If I don't get my new ID my job may as well be non-existent." the scientist said, obviously agitated. "Yeah uh, we've been having equipment issues so I dunno if we even have the ID yet. I'm sure corporate will understand, no need to worry doc." Marcus replied. The scientist looked even more agitated. "Why is everyone here so incompetent, it's just an ID!" he said. A second or so later, his expression shifted into a more apologetic look. "My apologies...Today has been a rough day, do not take it personally." the scientist said, turning away and walking down the corridor. Marcus looked down at his watch, reading the time. "Eight thirteen already? Huh, maybe not that long of a shift after all." he said to himself.

* * *

"Prepare for unforseen consequences..."

yos, here comes incident.


	2. Beginning of the End

Hey look, chapter 2! Wow! Anyways, i've never written a story before, so this will probably be really bad, it's just a thing i've always wanted to do. If you're actually reading this, uh, thanks I guess.

* * *

Before he knew it, Marcus was already at the gym. He unfastened his bulletproof vest and layed it down by the treadmill. He got on and started it up, he never really was one for lifting weights. Albeit, Marcus wasn't weak, far from it, but he never was the bodybuilder type. The clock eventually rolled around to 8:48, where he decided to take a break. He stopped the treadmill and hopped off, picking up his vest. He wiped beads of sweat off of his forehead as he refastened the vest around his torso. He walked to the cafeteria and got himself a drink, as he never really liked to eat in the mornings. He checked his watch again, and it was 8:59. "Eight fi-" he was cut short by a loud rumble, shaking the facility.

The lights in the cafeteria flickered, and went out. Whispers filled the room, and Marcus stood up. Out of seemingly no-where, a green flash of electricity appeared in the room. The bolts bounced around in a short arc, and hit Marcus directly in the chest, sending him to his knees. He was struck in the chest once more, sending him to the ground. Panicked screams replaced the whispers, and an alarm sounded. Marcus' vision faded, and he fell unconscious.

* * *

Yeah uh, super short chapter I guess, my bad.


	3. Encounters

p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Sorry for the wait, I've just been busy with school work and haven't had time to write this chapter./p  
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Marcus awoke nearly 35 minutes after the beginning of the incident./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Aww...What the hell..." He groaned, slowly sitting up. His vision was still somewhat blurry, but it came back after a few seconds. Marcus looked around and spotted a scientist in a pool of blood./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Oh shit!" Marcus got up and ran over to the scientist. He kneeled down and felt around for a pulse./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Come on...Come on..." But there was nothing, the scientist was clearly dead./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Shit..." He said, standing back up. The alarm was still blaring, and then he noticed the sheer amount of corpses everywhere./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What the hell..." He said, unholstering his Beretta. He flicked the safety off and walked towards the kitchen entrance. He pushed open the door and slowly walked in./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He saw...Something. Mutilated, but alive. It was wearing security officer gear./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""The fuck..." he mumbled. The zombie somehow heard him and turned around with a loud groan. It began to shuffle forwards, continuously groaning. Marcus raised the Beretta and aimed at the open chest of the zombie. He fired multiple shots, only causing it to stagger back with a cry of pain. It made some progress and swiped at his chest, only clawing the vest. Marcus staggered back with a grunt and kicked the zombie in its right leg. It fell to the ground and he aimed the Beretta at the creature attached to the to the zombie's head. He fired twice, and with another screech of pain, it died./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What the hell is this thing...This isn't happening..." Marcus tried to reassure himself./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I'm just dreaming, i'll wake up soon enough back in my dormitory. Maybe I won't even be late today." he said, his heart racing. He exited the room, looking for any signs of life, well, human life. He walked down the hallway back into the gym, some of the machines were flipped, and the corpse of a security officer and one of the creatures he saw on the previous...thing's head. He exited the room and continued to walk down the hall./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He made his way to the locker room, pushing the door open and aiming the Beretta inside, this time prepared. "No! Stay back you abomination!" he heard someone shout on the other side of the locker room./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Marcus grabbed his flashlight, flicking it on and shining it at the person on the other end of the room, only to discover they were a scientist. Marcus sighed, relieved. Something that wasn't going to try and kill him. "Hey uh, doc, you got nothin' to worry about, not an alien." Marcus said, trying to coax him over./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The scientist quickly rushed over. "Thank god, a security officer!"/p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Uh, yeah. Hey uh, doc. What the hell are these things? Why are they wearin' staff uniforms?" Marcus asked him./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What do you mean? There's quite a spectrum of how many there are. If you mean the creatures with the elongated claws, I have no idea, but it is best to stay away from them. They killed one of my colleagues I was hiding with and I ran here." he replied./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well listen, the best we can do is stick together, now let's get a move on," Marcus said, turning on his heel and walking out of the locker room, the scientist close behind./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He walked back down the same hall to find another zombie eating an engineer. Marcus raised the Beretta, aiming it at the creature's head. "Oh dear..." the scientist mumbled. Thankfully, the zombie didn't hear him, and Marcus fired four rounds into the zombie's back. With a cry of pain and anger it fell forwards, then shifted around and stood up. It shuffled towards the pair and Marcus refocused his aim. He fired into the headcrab twice, causing the creature to fall dead./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""G-Good shot...Now let's go..." the scientist said, obviously afraid./p  
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""One step ahead of ya', doc." Marcus said, walking around the Engineer's corpse. "We'd best get a move on," he said, guiding the scientist down the corridor./p 


End file.
